Chapter 27 – Rude Awakening

 

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“Sarah has passed?” Godric asked softly, a glimmer of sadness overtaking his features for the blonde woman who had treated him with kindness. “The Fellowship was attacked, our allies.”

 

Cecily nodded, showing not an ounce of sympathy before relaying, “No survivors.”

 

“We were attacked by the Authority, but they do not fight with guns,” Russell noted. “It is too overt, leverage has always been exerted rather than actual force. It’s the nature of their business. Talbot and your human are mere pawns to them.”

 

“So who has taken your state?” Godric questioned.

 

“Mexico, of course,” he dismissed, displaying little regard for that conclusion. “Greedy bastard has deep pockets and Isabel has always been for sale.”

 

Godric didn’t reply, too many occurrences in a short period of time had given him thought to who he could trust.

 

“You’re up,” Russell prodded at an absent-minded Jason who looked at him in confusion.

 

“Watch it with the poking, Bubba,” he answered while caressing the point of impact. “What?” Jason demanded when Russell continued to look at him expectantly. “Oh, she said somethin’ about no survivors, your ancientness.”

 

“How did you survive then?” Russell asked with keen interest.

 

“Dunno,” he shrugged. “One minute I was there, then poof! We was gone and with Sookie. More guns. Some girl named Claudine came by and y’all found us in that field. Got any ESPN on this?” Jason questioned while prodding at the control buttons for the different CCTV monitors.

 

“Claudine?”

 

“Huh, yeah,” Jason mumbled while flicking through the channels. “She looks after Sookie or sumtin’. ‘M gonna need to talk to her employer about the piss poor job she’s doin’.”

 

Russell grinned like a loon while listening to the nonsensical ramblings before directing his attention to his ancient colleague and addressing him in his ancient tongue, “You don’t even realise what an asset you possess, do you?”

 

“Ms. Stackhouse is not an asset,” he spoke pointedly.

 

“Is that so?” Russell grinned. “If you won’t have her, I will.”

 

Godric’s eyes narrowed with enough warning to clear the hostile air between them, a small snort escaped Russell in a display of defeat. “What is she?”

 

“You really are blind, aren’t you, Pappa?” Cecily giggled in the same falsetto tone as Russell. “You think all this strife and war is about you.”

 

“It’s about her?” he whispered with sudden realisation. “It’s about Sookie.”

 

“YES!” Jason squealed with excitement when he flicked through a channel that held his attention longer than two seconds. “Vamp porn!”

 

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Hugo awoke with a startle, emitting the stench of fear that only seemed to entice the ancient vampire hovering above him even more. “You’re injured, little Fae,” he warned, caressing the sharp bone of his cheek with a gentle prod. “Can’t mask that smell so well, now can you? Or mask what you are now. You know what I am?” he taunted, not giving the Faery much chance to guess. “Hungry.”

 

Hugo gulped audibly with a conceding nod understanding full well the danger those glistening white fangs posed as they scraped slowly against the bare expanse of his neck.

 

“Tell me everything you know,” he demanded coolly with the desired effect. “Leave nothing out.”

 

“What would you like to know?” Hugo whispered, not daring to move an inch in fear of incisors striking flesh and surely draining him of the last of his waning vitality.

 

“Isabel.”

 

“She has made her move then,” Hugo acknowledged to which the threat of fangs was eased away and he finally dared breathe calmly again. “Who won out in the end? The Authority or Mexico? She was playing them both against each other.”

 

“Why did you not inform us of this?” Eric demanded with hostility. Hugo eyed him warily, the Viking was intimidating enough with clothes on, but in his full naked glory, pale skin offset in the dark, where the shadows fell on the cut features of face and body, only sharpening the threat that surrounded him.

 

“I have my own orders,” he answered frugally, causing Eric to hover closer in his personal space once more. A small cough was released from the faery’s still aching lungs despite the blood transfusion, “They changed recently.”

 

“Are you unnerving my faery, Bottom?” Russell grinned lasciviously while entering the bedroom where Eric only just managed to circumvent his wandering hand. “He has my blood inside of him now, I could make him chirp in seconds.”

 

“Fat chance,” Cecily snorted when she materialised in front of him to which Russell scented the air around her curiously.

 

“Cecily?” he probed to which Eric nodded.

 

“He’s warded not to reveal anything except what he’s allowed to,” Eric transcribed from Cecily.

 

“Tricky little faery,” Russell taunted while running a slender finger over his palpitating jugular. “Is it allowed to or allowed to whom?” Hugo flinched slightly giving more of an answer than any response would have given. “Try again with your little nugget, Bottom. He’ll talk to her, best hurry.”

 

Eric growled under his breath, having no patience for Sookie’s kind manners in perilous situations like these. He had pretended to calm in her embrace only to slip away stealthily when he felt her fall to sleep. Now all he wanted to do was rip the faery in front of him to shreds till he revealed all he wanted to know.

 

“Bror?” Cecily asked while regarding him curiously as he was lost to malicious and murderous thoughts. “You should return to the control room.”

 

“What for?” he barked in return, barely able to contain the coursing anger that plagued his veins, and in turn would wake Sookie.

 

“Vamp porn,” she shrugged.

 

“WHAT THE FUCK WOULD I WANT TO WATCH VAMP PORN FOR?” he roared in return, surely waking Sookie in the process with that final outburst.

 

“Trust me, Bottom,” Russell grinned. “You’ll enjoy this particular showing.”

 

Aggravated and done with the conversation, Eric spun on his heels and exited down the narrow hallway towards Sookie, finding his Maker beckoning him to the control room as well. Reluctantly he adhered to find Jason Stackhouse watching the screen with avid attention while Godric tried to chastely avert his eyes.

 

“Hey man, it’s okay for guys to watch porn together, but the clothes stay on,” Jason spoke with some distraction without taking his eyes from the screen. He paused momentarily before adding thoughtfully, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Just not into that.”

 

“Shut up,” Eric growled while muffling his mouth with his large hand, only causing him to protest against it, feeling the bare skin of the Viking against his. A few buttons on the control panel were engaged before Eric pulled the microphone towards him with a rough jerk. “PAMELA!”

 

Mid-coitus her head snapped back towards the lens of the camera, and looking rather guilty she gave a small wave before dismounting a whimpering Logan.

 

In relief Eric’s hand slipped from Jason’s spluttering mouth while he whispered contentedly, “Pamela.”

 

In a gesture of recognition and a practice long-standing between them, she rested her left hand over her once-beating heart before Logan draped a very pink sheet around her to cover their nudity.

 

“Not cool, man,” Jason grumbled with an annoyed glare directed Eric’s way. “Not cool at all.”

 

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“How did you get in here?”

 

“I have my ways,” the blonde grinned with her crossed arms hanging loosely across her chest. “Your security is rather pitiful, are you the only one old enough to be up?”

 

“Well,” he shrugged with little apology to her mocking tone before disentangling himself from the early morning’s entertainment and slipping on a pair of well-worn denims. “It was fun being King while it lasted.”

 

“Not so fast, Baker,” Nan growled as he made to move. “You have more value than your worth right now.”

 

“Is that so?” he quipped with little surprise while scrutinising the position of his black hat in the mirror before even contemplating a shirt for his chest. “Didn’t know you switched teams,” he winked lasciviously, receiving an instant eye roll in reply.

 

“Your connections to the Louisiana court,” she growled with appropriate threat while holding him in a choke hold.  “Get me them, NOW!”

 

Stan stumbled back against the concrete wall when released as he watched the red laser beams of Nan’s troops congregate over his bare chest.

 

“My little deal with you concerning the telepath was uncovered last we spoke,” he grinned, far too content for a vampire knowing his true death was but a trigger away. Stan Baker always did enjoy defying a person of authority too much, so he roared with laughter at the sight of the sour look on Nan’s face. “Not worth so much to you right now, am I?”

 

“You always were a sloppy vampire,” she bristled, gesturing at the state of the room. “Placing a bomb on their plane, Baker? How exactly was that plan going to work?”

 

His eyes narrowed, his confidence growing with the continued standoff despite his disadvantaged position. “Don’t shove your messes on me, lassie, I was just there for the clean-up.”

 

“Explain,” she demanded, closing the distance between them as well as the threat of the parade of bullets. They scrutinised each other carefully searching for mutual deceit, staring each other down without a need to blink.

 

The tense hold of his muscles receded before he announced, “I’ll call Northman.”

 

“You do that.”

 

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“Wake up,” he whispered into her ears softly while gently shaking Tara’s sleeping form. “She’s gone for now, let’s get you and the baby outta here.”

 

Tara started to protest and with a sigh he gagged her mouth. “Promise to behave?” She nodded meekly while he proceeded to gather her in the thin sheets, and when she appeared to struggle again he reminded, “Think of the baby now.”

 

She nodded again before being taken into his arms, the sheets swaddling her form. When she threatened to fight against the gag on their way out he warned, “Shhh, best let sleeping dogs lie.”

 

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“You seem happy?” Sookie questioned curiously when she sleepily regarded Eric coming out of the shower.

 

“Pam is alive,” he beamed before moving swiftly above her and kissing her deeply. “Pam is FUCKING alive!”

 

“Oh Eric,” Sookie whispered, wet tears escaping her again, relief washing over her with the news. “Are you sure?”

 

“Yes,” he grinned, hugging her tighter. “I saw her, and spoke to her. She’s holed up in a safe room. She took precautions ahead of time and had the feed hooked into my system.”

 

“Like father, like daughter,” she complimented before kissing the damp dew on his chest. “Anything else Mr. Northman?”

 

A single brow raised in question while he continued to stare without uttering a word. “Forget it,” she whispered while worming out of his hold, moving past him, and slamming the door of the bathroom against him.

 

“Sookie?”

 

“I told you to forget it!” she yelled angrily while yanking away a little too hard at the toilet roll beside her, causing it to unfurl in large quantities like an untamed ribbon. Upon hearing the rattle of the closed door she warned, “Don’t you dare come in here!”

 

“Sookie!”

 

“Go away!”

 

“Sis?” Jason asked with wonder on how he exactly came to be knocking on a bathroom door when he was about to bite into a sandwich a second ago.

 

“Stay out of this, Jase!”

 

He shrugged at the giant blonde Viking, “Better get her some pads.”

 

After shoving Jason out the bedroom door he took an extended whiff but found no evidence to Jason’s suggestion, and instead waited patiently on the bed after dressing for Sookie to reappear.

 

“Don’t,” she whispered in warning while brushing past him to the closet where she took an extended view looking for anything she could wear.

 

“I’m sorry,” he offered despite her warning.

 

“For what?” she demanded brusquely before dismissing another of his shirts as outerwear.

 

“For being an ass?” he posed with boy-like innocence.

 

“Nice try,” she snorted while trying to hide her amusement with his attempt at an apology.

 

“For being unreasonable when I thought Pam was dead?”

 

“Bingo,” she smiled. “Was that so hard?”

 

“Yes,” he grumbled, which only caused her to laugh and him to frown further.

 

“Come,” he offered with an outreached hand. “I’ll make it up to you.”

 

“I repeat from before, I am not Pam,” she said when he revealed the pink closet hidden behind another door. “Besides, an apology means more to me than pieces of cloth.”

 

“Is that so?” he grinned while pulling at the hem of the towel where it held it all tied together before his hands were swatted away in protest.

 

“Come,” he demanded again while she was holding up a velour pink tracksuit she really didn’t want to wear. She glared momentarily before he amended, “Please come?”

 

With an encouraging smile Sookie placed the unwanted clothing back before acquiescing.

 

“Wear this?” Eric requested, holding up a dress not dissimilar to the one she first wore to Fangtasia. She looked closely at the small section of clothing he had pulled it from. Every item was similar to something she had worn around him before or what she was likely to have bought for herself.

 

“When?” she whispered, taking in the items of clothing and disregarding his choice momentarily.

 

“Moment you walked into my bar,” Eric mumbled in an admission he didn’t really feel like sharing, but her eyes had demanded of him. The thought occurred to him that he’d never be able to if he wanted it or not. A strange mixture of comfort and claustrophobia settled in him with that thought.

 

“I don’t know whether to be creeped out or flattered,” she spoke softly against the clothing.

 

“Go with flattered,” he grinned from behind her while tracing a finger over her bare shoulders.

 

“Creepy it is,” she giggled while settling on a comfy pair of jeans and t-shirt. Her amusement only seemed to increase when she saw him standing with a pout while holding the rejected dress to the air when she turned around. Her laughter lasted longer than appropriate before Eric had to characterise it as maniacal and the levity that had sprung between them evaporated.

 

“Sookie?” he questioned with worry before she seemed to settle back into herself.

 

“Got any socks?” she asked casually to which he silently pointed to a drawer, scrutinising her momentary odd behaviour carefully. Without much thought Sookie picked a pair and left Eric standing startled with his chosen outfit, contemplating what sort of transformation he had just witnessed.

 

“Creepy indeed,” he noted to himself while replacing the dress among the other items of clothing.

 

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A/N: To ‘Temp’ since you weren’t signed in; rest assured I will not resort to rape and the kidnapping of Sookie, it’s not my style. Once with CH was enough and I rather not repeat all of that and I don’t like reading it in fanfiction either.

Thanks to msbuffy for all the stellar editing on this.

I’m too sleepy to be witty about something in my author’s note… so thoughts, speculations, conspiracy theories, etc. have at it… I love to hear it all…

 

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